beware of those who speak with forked tongues

They neither mean what they say nor say what they mean.

Israel has no aggressive intentions toward Iran, Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres said on Saturday, after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert cautioned Tehran it would pay a price for pursuing its nuclear ambitions.

"We must never consider such a thing," Peres told Channel Two television when asked if he would support an independent Israeli military strike against Iran if other nations failed to curb its uranium enrichment program.

"Israel has never shown aggressive intentions (toward Iran) -- it has none. I don't think we have to, or can, deal with this issue," he said, cautioning that Israel could face international isolation if it attacked Iran.

Israel has said repeatedly it wants the United States and other countries to take the lead in dealing with Iran . . .

We have yet to find out what exactly that means. But, almost certainly, we will.

"The Iranians should be afraid -- they must understand if they object to every compromise there will be a price to pay," Olmert, who has said a nuclear Iran would pose a threat to Israel's existence, told reporters on Thursday.

He did not elaborate. But his comments were described in the Israeli media as the strongest warning yet by an Israeli leader to Iran that Israel might consider a pre-emptive strike to try to ensure Tehran cannot build an atomic bomb.

So, which is it? Will they strike, as Olmert warned - or, as Peres insists, let the US and allies strike for them?

Israel bombed Iraq's nuclear reactor in 1981, an attack that Peres, then leader of the opposition Labour Party, opposed as diplomatically damaging to the Jewish state.

That ought to answer your question. But again, with israel, you can never be sure.